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Penn State's first victory over Ohio State since 2011. "This was a special night," coach James Franklin said, still emotional in the media room a=er taking a few moments to cel- ebrate with his players. "It was a special night for me and my family, it was a spe- cial night for all those young men in that locker room. It was a special night for the State College community and the 107,000 fans who were in the stadium and the 100,000 fans who are still out there tailgating." Penn State fought back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit, finding a way to prevail on a night when its offense was only able to move the ball in fits and starts against Ohio State's rugged-as- ever defense. In doing so, it alleviated some of the anguish of a less-successful comeback against the Buckeyes, one that occurred two years earlier on the same field and ended with the visitors escap- ing in double overtime. Franklin saluted the crowd, noting that his team fed off the energy it created. "I've worked in every major conference, as well as the NFL, and I can't imagine that there's a better environment than what was out there tonight," he said. "I couldn't be more proud." Here's a look at the good and the bad: THE GOOD • Injured linebackers Brandon Bell and Jason Cabinda returned to action, and they helped keep one of the best offenses in the country from running away with the game. The Buckeyes had been ranked second in the Big Ten in both total of- fense and scoring, but they didn't find as much running room as usual, and they weren't able to hit many big plays down- field. Bell finished the game with 19 tackles, while Cabinda had 12. "Getting those two guys back was huge," Franklin said. "Their leadership, their poise, their playmaking ability was huge for us." • A=er sitting out the first half for rea- sons that Franklin declined to detail, jun- ior defensive end Garrett Sickels had a superb second half, finishing the game with nine tackles including 2.5 sacks. As a team, the Lions sacked Barrett six times. Franklin called Sickels' second-half performance "awesome." "Garrett Sickels is one of the best kids I've ever been around and he comes from an unbelievable family," the coach said. "There's nothing better than when you can teach a lesson and do it the right way and win, and it reinforces it for every- body. Everybody knows we're going to make the right choices for these kids and for this program long-term. We're never going to put winning ahead of it. We're never going to be about winning at all costs. We're going to do it the right way here at Penn State. Always have, always will." • The Nittany Lions didn't have a whole lot of sustained success on of- fense, but they did catch lightning in a bottle a couple of times. Their touch- down drive at the end of the first half, a drive that put them in position to make their second-half comeback, covered 74 yards in seven plays and lasted only 60 seconds. Their other touchdown drive covered 90 yards in five plays and lasted 1 minute, 20 seconds. The only other time Penn State really put anything together on offense was on its first drive of the game when it went 54 yards a=er receiving the opening kickoff, only to come away empty when Tyler Davis's 39-yard field goal attempt was blocked. It was the first miss of Davis's career. • A=er getting off to a rough start, Penn State's kicking units came up big. Really, really big. In addition to Haley's scoop- and-score, freshman linebacker Cam Brown blocked a punt in the fourth quar- ter, setting up a 34-yard field goal by Davis that cut Ohio State's lead to 21-17. THE BAD • It looked for a while as though the Nittany Lions' performance on special teams was going to be a contributing fac- tor in yet another loss to Ohio State. In addition to the blocked field goal, John Reid fumbled a punt to set up the Buck- eyes' opening score. And in the second half, the Lions were forced to take a safety when Blake Gillikin had to scram- ble back to the end zone to recover a high snap. • Except for the three drives mentioned above, the Lions struggled on offense, especially in the passing game. Trace SCORING SUMMARY 2ND 14:55 OSU Durbin, Tyler 33-yard field goal 5 plays, 22 yards, TOP 0:43........................................................ 3-0 4:53 OSU Baugh, Marcus 26-yard pass from Barrett, J.T. (Durbin, Tyler kick failed) 11 plays, 78 yards, TOP 5:09....................................................... 9-0 1:14 OSU Durbin, Tyler 30-yard field goal 9 plays, 58 yards, TOP 2:22.......................................................12-0 0:09 PSU Godwin, Chris 20-yard pass from McSorley, Trace (Davis, Tyler kick) 7 plays, 74 yards, TOP 1:00.........................................................12-7 3RD 10:10 OSU Samuel, Curtis 74-yard run (Durbin, Tyler kick) 3 plays, 82 yards, TOP 1:24.........................................................19-7 8:31 OSU TEAM safety...................................................................................21-7 4TH 13:32 PSU McSorley, Trace 2-yard run (Davis, Tyler kick) 5 plays, 90 yards, TOP 1:20...................................................... 21-14 9:33 PSU Davis, Tyler 34-yard field goal 6 plays, 12 yards, TOP 2:09.......................................................21-17 4:27 PSU Haley, Grant 60-yard blocked FG return (Davis, Tyler kick)...................................................................... 21-24 O c T O B E R 2 3 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 2

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